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Kentucky added a shooting guard to its roster next season as Iowa transfer CJ Fredrick committed to the Wildcats.

Fredrick entered the NCAA transfer portal two weeks ago and was considered a target for Kentucky, since he played his prep career at Covington Catholic, where he led the Colonels to a state title three years ago.

“I am very excited for this new opportunity in my basketball career,” Fredrick said. “I really appreciate the confidence Coach Cal has in me. I am looking forward to going to work and developing as a player with Coach Cal, the staff and my future teammates. … I cannot wait to get back on the floor at Rupp Arena to help this team win and make Big Blue Nation proud.”

Calipari welcomed Fredrick, a 6-foot-3 guard to the program.

“CJ Fredrick is an established college player from a terrific program who has competed at the highest level and has made big shots and big plays,” Calipari said. “As we all know, CJ is a terrific shooter, but what stuck out  on tape is he takes care of the ball – he has an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio – and he can hold his own defensively. He guarded the best guard on the other team in just about everything I have seen.”

While with the Hawkeyes, Fredrick made 83 3-pointers during his career and averaged 8.8 points per game during his three seasons at Iowa.

“What I love about CJ is his approach in all of this. In every conversation I have had with him, he has a great plan of how he wants to improve and where he needs to take his game to get better,” Calipari said. “He wants to be challenged, he wants to be coached and he embraces competition.”

HOOD TAKES POST AT MISSOURI WESTERN

Former Kentucky guard Jon Hood is moving up in the coaching ranks.

Hood joined Will Martin’s staff at Missouri Western and reunited with Martin, a former manager at Kentucky. Hood served as an assistant coach at Kentucky Wesleyan last season and helped guide the Panthers to a 10-6 record and a third-place finish in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

“Jon has a wealth of knowledge and experience in our game that is going to allow us to take the next steps forward in establishing a championship standard within Missouri Western Basketball,” Martin said. “As both an elite player and coach, he has shown an unmatched love and passion for serving others through the game of basketball. Coach Hood is going to lead our student athletes both on and off the court with a tremendous amount of authentic faith, love, ownership and work.”

Hood and Martin became friends at Kentucky and both were part of the school’s national championship team in 2012. Hood was a player and Martin served as head manager for the Wildcats that season.

“I’m very excited to be a part of the Griffon men’s basketball program,” Hood said. “Thank you to coach Martin and the administration at MWSU for providing me with his opportunity. I can’t wait to get started and help Griffon basketball compete for championships.”

Before serving one season at Kentucky Wesleyan, Hood was an assistant coach at Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington and has also worked in the orthopedic field. Hood was named Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 2009 following a stellar career at North Hopkins High School in Madisonville.

Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.